People v. Gallardo

After a jury trial, defendant was convicted of murder and sentenced to a term of 60 years. He contends on appeal that (1) he did not receive effective assistance of counsel; (2) he was denied a fair trial when the jury was given an unintelligible instruction on voluntary manslaughter, and the court, outside the presence of defendant or his counsel, failed to answer the jury’s question on this issue; and (3) the trial court abused its discretion in sentencing him to an extended term of 60 years.

At a pretrial hearing on defendant’s motion to suppress his statements as involuntarily made, police…